


Of the Intricacies of my Chosen Languages—

by alexiel_neesan



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Argents - Freeform, English, French, I welcome discussion!, Languages and Linguistics, Meta, Other, The Code
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-12
Updated: 2013-01-12
Packaged: 2017-11-25 04:02:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/634913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexiel_neesan/pseuds/alexiel_neesan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>— or how the Code as given to us in season one could have two more meanings, and it's all down to translation and connotations.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of the Intricacies of my Chosen Languages—

I am in no way a specialist in languages or a professional translator, I am just bilingual in french and english, and there's most certainly problems with my ramblings. As said in the tags, I am open to discussion (I would really love to hear other people's thoughts on all this).

+

It occurred to me that the Argents’ code _Nous chassons ceux qui nous chassent_ can be translated in other ways than Allison’s quick “We hunt those who hunt us,” as heard in the first season of Teen Wolf. Because that’s how translation from one language to the next roll. And depending on those translations it can mean a lot of different things, and different conclusions can be reached; about the code, but also about the ones using it, or being prey to it.

If the sentence is indeed _Nous chassons ceux qui nous chassent_ , translated as "We hunt those who hunt us,” then werewolves are seen as persons in their own rights (as deduced by using _ceux_ /those). And the verb _chasser_ is translated as to hunt, which my dictionary (apple dictionary) says is to “pursue and kill (a wild animal) for sport or food,” and which the Meriam-Webster dictionary [says means](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hunt) (in this case)

> 1  
>  a : to pursue for **food or in sport**  
>  b : to manage in the search for **game**  
>  2  
>  a : to pursue with intent to capture  
>  b : to search out : seek  
>  3  
>  : to drive or chase especially by harrying  
>  4  
>  : to traverse in search of **prey**

Emphasis mine. There’s an inherent dichotomy of what werewolves are to hunters: are they persons, humans (except not), or are they no more than animals? (Which is what the show seems to shows us.) Until which point are the werewolves persons, and when do they tip out into animals that in turn are prey to the hunters?

But the sentence in french could also be _Nous chassons ce qui nous chassent_ , which sounds absolutely the same, and you can’t tell the difference unless you see it written down (and given that the apparent origin story of the Argents involves the Beast of Gévaudan, which raged in the mid 18th century, the code can very well have lost or gained two crucial letters in the course of its history — moreover, french is still a living language that evolve with time, and two centuries and a half saw a lot of changes). The crucial difference is that _ce_ would be translated as "what," meaning that werewolves are not persons to the hunters from the beginning. Eliminate the human factor, eliminate the guilt, let's hunt werewolves like animals. 

Lastly, the verb _chasser_ has more than one meaning. It can be translate as "to hunt", with the specific meanings seen above, of “pursue and kill (a wild animal) for sport or food,” but it can also mean (and thus translate as) "to drive out," which can be used in the sense of driving out smoke out of a room, or driving animals and/or people out of a given place.  
This being about werewolves, based on wolves who keep territories, and humans, who are notoriously territorial, my first translation with connotations of _Nous chassons ceux qui nous chassent_ aside from the one apparently explored in the show, is that werewolves and hunters drove each other out of their respective territories ( _Nous chassons ceux qui nous chassent_ in this case would translate, subjectively, as “we have no beef with each other as long as we both stay in our respective territories and hold them”), and that with time and the distortion of meaning (french does not seem to be the main language of the Argents anymore, at least the ones seen on screen, nor does it seems to be very well used at least as a spoken language if the er, not very good accent of Chris Argent was anything to go by —sorry JR Bourne and people, but I'm a native speaker and it took me two rewatch to catch that it was french), it morphed into “We’ll kill those who kill” regardless of territories.

I doubt we'll have more explanations of the history of the Argents, and of the code, but it's interesting that just one sentence could lead down to three different paths.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dick around at [alyks](http://alyks.tumblr.com).

**Author's Note:**

> Read the comments! There is interesting things said, not by me.   
> And if you're feeling like it, I dick around on tumblr at [alyks](http://alyks.tumblr.com).


End file.
